Chasing the Santa Fe Ring
During the Gilded Age, from about 1870 to 1900, great enterprises were built, fortunes were made, and opulent lives were lived. One of the features of the day was the appearance of “rings”—combinations of men who collaborated to use the powers of wealth and government for their own satisfaction and enrichment. The Tweed Ring in New York was the first to attain fame for its corruption, but the term was soon applied to cliques across the country. In the West, no alliance was more enduring or broad in its ambitions than the Santa Fe Ring in New Mexico. David L. Caffey set out to examine the who, what, why, and how of the Santa Fe Ring, producing a book, Chasing the Santa Fe Ring: Power and Privilege in Territorial New Mexico, which he will discuss through this illustrated lecture.
David Caffey
David L. Caffey grew up in Abilene, Texas, and became enthralled with New Mexico’s history in twelve summers on staff at the Philmont Scout Ranch in Colfax County. He later lived in New Mexico for thirty-three years, serving as Director of the Harwood Museum in Taos, and later in administration at San Juan College and Clovis Community College. His forthcoming book, When Cimarron Meant Wild: The Maxwell Land Grant Conflict in Colorado and New Mexico, will be published by the University of Oklahoma Press in spring, 2023. He and his wife now live in Lubbock, where they are watching a little girl grow up.
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